Royal Rabbits of London Page 6

  Then he got the feeling they were not alone. He lifted his eyes and saw that the bedroom was unexpectedly crowded with creatures:

  The tundra wolves were looking at the empty cabinet in horror (and Sapphire was worrying about the hairdresser she had buzzed into the mansion without checking she really was a hairdresser).

  Minsky-the-Terrible’s mouth had fallen open.

  Zeno, Laser and Clooney seemed very relieved to see that Shylo was alive (even though he did look a sorry sight all covered in feathers).

  They were all asking themselves the same questions: where had the diamond gone? Who had snuck in there before them?

  Minsky scratched his head. If the rabbits didn’t have it, and the minks didn’t have it, and Amura didn’t have it, then who did?

  Shylo’s ears flopped over his forehead and he felt a terrible sinking feeling in his stomach where only moments before he had felt sick.

  Amura stopped searching the room and turned round to face them.

  ‘Let’s get out of here!’ cried Minsky. ‘Before we’re served up as dinner!’

  ‘Good thinking!’ said Zeno.

  And, very slowly, they all backed out, down the marble steps, through the fortified doors and the electric gates, then hurried into the night as fast as they could go.

  Shylo was the last to leave. Suddenly, he was no longer so afraid of the weeping tiger. In fact, he felt sorry for her and his compassion melted his fear. She seemed to have deflated like a balloon and was now shrivelled and damp.

  He took one last look at the empty display case – just to check that the diamond really wasn’t there – and, as he did so, his highly sensitive nose caught a whiff of the most delicious scent. It wasn’t Amura’s sickly-sweet smell, nor was it the smell of Ratzi, mink or wolf. It was something else . . . something familiar perhaps . . . But then Amura started to roar again and Shylo turned and hurried out of the mansion, all the way on to the rolling grass of Hampstead Heath. Even then he could still hear the tigress’s howl echoing across the hills:

  ‘MY BEAUTIFUL DIAMOND! WHO HAS STOLEN MY BEAUTIFUL DIAMOND? I WANT MY DIAMOND NOOOOWWWW!’

  ‘Baffling!’ said Nelson when the Royal Rabbits returned from their expedition.

  Clooney flopped on to the sofa of the war room and undid his bow tie. Laser fell into an armchair, and Zeno, who couldn’t sit down because of falling on his behind so many times during his judo lesson, positioned himself beside Nelson’s desk with his muscly arms folded.

  Horatio, who was in the other armchair with his stump on a stool, closed the book he had been reading and looked at Shylo expectantly. ‘Why don’t you tell us exactly what happened when you went inside, Shylo?’ he asked.

  Shylo stood in the middle of the room. He was very nervous because everyone was staring at him again, but he summoned his courage and began to tell his tale from the moment he had entered Tiger Towers. He made sure not to miss out a single detail (he even told them about the marshmallow and caviar and how sick he had felt) because he hoped there might be something in his story that gave away the identity of the thief.

  ‘Extraordinary!’ exclaimed Horatio, once the tale was finished. ‘If the minks don’t have it, and we don’t have it and Amura doesn’t have it . . . who does?’

  They all looked at one another in bewilderment.

  Then Belle de Paw flounced into the room in a sparkly red dress. ‘Why the sad faces?’ she asked.

  ‘Because we failed, Belle,’ Clooney replied from the sofa.

  ‘Horatio was right,’ said Nelson, shaking his grey head regretfully. ‘It was a trap.’

  ‘But Minsky and I chose not to fall into it!’ boomed Zeno. ‘There was no fighting, just a judo lesson. Then Amura screamed and we followed the tundra wolves into the mansion to find the diamond was gone!’ He punched a fist into the palm of his paw. ‘And we have no idea who took it.’

  ‘We don’t even have a lead,’ Laser said. ‘If you have any bright ideas, Belle, let us know. We’re stumped!’

  ‘Oh là là! Amura didn’t have it?’ trilled Belle de Paw gleefully.

  ‘Amura had it, but someone took it,’ Laser corrected.

  ‘Oh là là!’ Belle de Paw repeated and there was something in the jolly way she sang it that put a niggle into Shylo’s belly. ‘We have to find out who stole it,’ Belle de Paw continued much too cheerfully. ‘It must be a very clever animal to steal it right from under the noses of all of you. In fact, I cannot imagine what kind of animal has that level of intelligence to outwit Royal Rabbits, Mink-Bosses and tundra wolves!’

  ‘And a very scary tiger,’ Shylo added, watching Belle de Paw carefully.

  ‘Amura must be very upset to have lost the diamond,’ Belle de Paw said with a sniff. ‘C’est la vie . . . But I shall leave you to your dilemma — you clearly don’t need me to help you work it out. I’m only good for looking into the periscopes. Shame! I will do as the Generalissimo ordered and see what is happening in the palace.’

  She flounced off to the periscopes, which were lined up in a row at one end of the war room, giving her a view of every room in the palace.

  At that moment, Shylo felt another twitch inside his belly. A niggle. This time he thought he knew exactly why it was niggling, but there was only one way to find out for sure . . .

  Nelson sighed. He had not noticed Belle de Paw’s seething fury. ‘I suppose we had better inform ST-BT. Clooney and Shylo, go to Downing Street and tell him what’s happened and see if he and his Backstreet Brushes have any ideas.’

  ‘Actually, I’m still feeling a little unwell after the marshmallow and caviar,’ said Shylo quickly, putting a paw on his belly that didn’t feel sick at all, just anxious. He needed to speak to Belle de Paw urgently. ‘Would it be all right if I went to my room? I don’t think ST-BT would appreciate an accident in the Fox Club . . .’

  ‘Of course,’ said Nelson, who understood at once. ‘Go and lie down. I’ll send Belle de Paw to check on you later.’

  Once Shylo was lying down in his room, the door opened and in came Belle de Paw with a glass of ginger tea to make him feel better.

  He smiled at her and she sat on the edge of his bed. Shylo’s nose twitched as he breathed in her familiar scent.

  ‘How was your afternoon, Belle?’ he asked.

  ‘Oh, I just took a little siesta and then sat in my boudoir and looked at my trinkets, and slept some more, and then you all came back . . .’

  ‘. . . without the Siberian Diamond.’

  ‘Well, it’s not so easy to find such a jewel,’ she said casually. ‘Maybe we’ll never find it. Maybe it’s already in Russia. We should all forget about it now, don’t you think?’

  Shylo felt a heaviness fall upon his heart, for he knew that his suspicions were right. Belle de Paw wouldn’t suddenly be so uninterested in the diamond unless she knew what had happened to it. He wished she would just be honest and tell him the truth. He couldn’t understand why the Royal Rabbit he admired most was being so deceitful.

  ‘Have you ever smelled a tiger, Belle?’ he asked.

  ‘I don’t think so,’ she replied. ‘Why?’

  ‘Because tigers have a very particular scent, and, when I was at Tiger Towers, tiger wasn’t the only creature my nose sniffed out.’

  ‘Non?’

  Shylo shook his head sadly. ‘No.’

  ‘What else did you smell then?’ she asked.

  ‘It was your perfume, Belle.’

  Belle de Paw shuffled uneasily on the bed. ‘Perhaps la tigresse and I share the same perfume,’ she suggested with a shrug. ‘In which case, she has very good taste.’

  ‘No, Belle. I think you were there.’

  ‘How could that be? Don’t talk such rubbish, Shylo!’ She waved her paw at him stroppily.

  ‘You said you wanted to come with us.’

  ‘Mais oui, but I was told I could not! I should have been Nelson’s first choice; no one knows more about diamonds than me. And, you know, I don’t just like them be
cause they sparkle, I like them because they are extraordinary.’ She fixed him with her intelligent coffee-coloured eyes and Shylo knew there was much more to this clever rabbit than a love of sparkling jewels.

  ‘Do you know that diamonds are older than the first plants? That a magical process occurs deep in the earth, a combination of pressure and heat, which creates these beautiful gems? They are not just lovely to look at but examples of what the earth is capable of creating. I like them because they are extraordinary and remind me to always be extraordinary too.’ She folded her arms and lowered her eyes. ‘But, even though I was the right rabbit for the job, Nelson ordered me to stay in The Grand Burrow and keep an eye on the palace. He dismissed me.’

  Shylo felt sorry for his friend. He too believed Nelson was wrong in not allowing her to go with the other Hopsters. ‘But you didn’t stay and keep an eye on the palace, did you?’ he murred. ‘When we were at Tiger Towers, Amura had an unexpected visit from her hairdresser. That was really you, wasn’t it, Belle?’

  The amber doe looked down at her paws and heaved a heavy sigh. Then her eyes met his. At last, she reached into her pocket. There it was: the Siberian Diamond. She gazed at it lovingly.

  ‘Oui. You have found me out. I wanted to prove to Nelson that I am just as stealthy and clever as Laser, Zeno and Clooney. That he should have trusted me with the mission. So I followed you all to Tiger Towers. I suspected that Amura has her fur dyed white and then it was confirmed when I looked through her bins and found the packets of dye. I guessed she must have it dyed very regularly to stop the yellow showing, so, while the tundra wolves were distracted by everyone else, I rang the staff bell at the side of the mansion and pretended I was her hairdresser. The wolf didn’t even come and check – she just buzzed me in.

  ‘After that, it was simple. You appeared at just the right time and lured Amura out of her bedroom. It only took a moment. La tigresse had not locked the display case. I grabbed the diamond and escaped out of a window in her dressing room. Fait accompli! Job done! I meant to give it to the Generalissimo, but he has not included me since you all returned from Tiger Towers, so I think I will keep it for a while. It’s beautiful, non?’

  Shylo gazed at the jewel. How much more beautiful it was in life than in photographs, he thought. It was the brightest, most sparkly thing he had ever seen, like a fallen star. His gaze was drawn into the very core of it, as if an invisible force was pulling it deep inside. He noticed small imperfections in the stone. Some were thin and feathery, others flat, shimmering planes, but as he moved his head they changed. Suddenly, he saw the wood back at home. He recognized the tall oak trees near the Warren and Farmer Ploughman’s farmhouse nestled in the valley. His heart was seized by an unbearable longing. He tore his eyes away. Up until this moment, he hadn’t realized how homesick he was.

  ‘You see how beautiful it is,’ Belle de Paw whispered. ‘When you really look at it closely, it is hard to look away, non? Let’s keep it a while. It will be our secret.’

  Shylo didn’t know what to say. His friend was smiling at him with such joy, such pleasure, such utter delight that for a second he felt bad for not sharing her happiness. But then something else took over. Something stronger: his loyalty to the Royal Rabbits and the King and Queen.

  ‘You have to give it to Nelson right away,’ he murred.

  Belle de Paw’s smile faded and her face darkened. ‘Nelson does not deserve to have it back. He dismissed me as if I was only good for looking through periscopes. But I am better than that!’

  ‘You can’t keep it, Belle de Paw,’ Shylo insisted.

  The beautiful doe clutched the diamond to her chest. ‘Shylo! I thought you were my friend!’ she exclaimed.

  ‘I am your friend,’ he argued. ‘But it belongs to the Queen and you have sworn to protect her.’ They bowed their floppies at the mention of the Queen.

  ‘She has so many diamonds,’ Belle de Paw said and waved a paw dismissively.

  ‘No, this is not just any diamond. This is the Siberian Diamond, the most valuable jewel in the world.’

  Suddenly, Belle began to cry. ‘You’re not going to tell Nelson, are you? You wouldn’t do that to a friend!’

  ‘You have to tell Nelson,’ Shylo said. ‘It’s the right thing to do.’

  ‘But I will get into terrible trouble,’ she retorted, holding the diamond even closer to her chest. ‘I have no choice but to keep it. If Nelson finds out I disobeyed his orders and stole the diamond, he might even expel me from the Royal Rabbits of London.’

  Shylo felt miserable. He thought the world of Belle de Paw. She had been so kind to him when he was new to The Grand Burrow and was one of his dearest friends. He did not want to repay her kindness by making her unhappy or, even worse, causing her to have to leave the Royal Rabbits, and yet he couldn’t allow her to keep the diamond. It just wasn’t right.

  Belle de Paw looked at him sternly. ‘You mustn’t tell a soul, Shylo. Do you understand?’

  Shylo stared at her with big, sad eyes.

  ‘If you do, I will never be your friend again.’

  Shylo sighed heavily as if an impossible weight had fallen on to his shoulders. He didn’t know what to do.

  ‘I will keep the diamond because I have earned it,’ she murred. ‘I would like to keep you as a friend too. It’s your choice, Shylo.’

  Shylo was very unhappy. He didn’t want to betray Belle de Paw, and yet he had sworn an oath to protect the Royal Family. He was a member of the Order of the Royal Rabbits of London. A wearer of the Red Badge on his paw. He had even been given a medal for bravery for his previous adventures. There was no question in his mind that his loyalties lay with them. Yet he did not want to upset his friend. There had to be another way.

  For two days, Shylo didn’t eat. He had been scrawny before, but now he was just skin and bone. The Hopsters believed he was sad because it was his fault the diamond was stolen in the first place, as he had not been vigilant enough on duty. Only Horatio had a niggle that there was something more, but, when the old buck asked him about it, Shylo simply shrugged and replied that he was fine.

  At night, Shylo crept up the tunnel to sit beneath the Weeping Willow in Green Park where he had found Clooney when he had first come to London in search of the Royal Rabbits. It had only been a few weeks earlier, but now it suddenly seemed like an awfully long time ago.

  He sat beneath the stars, thinking of home. Yes, he had been bullied by his brothers and sisters, but life had been simple there. He had dug up turnips and gone to visit Horatio in his burrow to hear stories of the Great Rabbit Empire. His days had been long and lazy, full of sunshine, bees and butterflies and his mother’s parsnip soup . . . Oh, how he missed his mother! He wished with all his heart that he could run home and tell her about his troubles and feel her soft kisses on his forehead as she reassured him everything would be fine. If he ran away, he’d never have to betray Belle de Paw, or the Royal Rabbits. He could disappear as Horatio had done and live out his days in the peaceful countryside.

  But deep down Shylo knew that would be cowardly.

  And, if he had learned anything from his experience as a Royal Rabbit, it was that he was braver than he knew. He was sure that if he dug deep enough he would find his courage. But he couldn’t do it alone. There was only one rabbit who could help him. The very rabbit who had given him the courage to come to London in the first place when all he had wanted to do was remain in the safety of his country home: Horatio.

  Shylo found his old friend in the small bedroom Nelson had given him, sitting in an armchair in his pyjamas, reading a book. The little bunkin stood in the doorway and thumped his hind paw as he had always done in the forest when he had entered Horatio’s burrow. It was the polite thing to do.

  ‘Come in, Shylo,’ said Horatio, putting down his book and looking at him over the rim of his spectacles.

  ‘I need your help,’ murred the little bunkin.

  ‘Tell me all about it,’ said Horatio, taking his stu
mp off the stool so that Shylo could sit down.

  ‘I have a terrible problem and I don’t know what to do about it.’

  ‘A problem shared is a problem halved,’ said Horatio wisely.

  Shylo took a deep breath and told Horatio about Belle de Paw, the diamond and his dilemma. As everything came tumbling out, Shylo couldn’t stop his bottom lip from wobbling and a fat tear trickled down his fur, balanced a moment on the end of his nose and then dropped on to his jacket with a plop. The old, wise buck listened carefully, his eyes full of kindness and compassion, until Shylo looked up at him helplessly and said, ‘I don’t know what to do.’

  Horatio smiled sympathetically. ‘I think you do,’ he murred softly.

  ‘Well, I know what I should do,’ Shylo agreed, wiping his wet eye with the back of his paw.

  ‘Sometimes one has to do the right thing even though it’s not easy,’ said Horatio. ‘In protecting your friend, you are betraying yourself and all your colleagues who are good and honest. And I think you’ll be doing Belle de Paw a service, Shylo. I don’t think she wants to be dishonest. She’s backed herself into a corner and doesn’t know how to get out of it. You can help her. You’re the only rabbit who can.’

  He put a paw on the little bunkin’s head and stroked him. ‘You know the right thing to do, Shylo, because you can feel it in your heart. Don’t ignore your heart. It’s giving you good advice. It always will.’

  Shylo sniffed and gave a sigh. ‘I won’t ignore my heart,’ he said. ‘But, in betraying my friend, it will break.’

  ‘Hearts mend, Shylo,’ Horatio told him. ‘They always do.’

  The following morning Shylo made his way to Nelson’s war room. All was quiet. The rest of The Grand Burrow was enjoying a hearty breakfast in the hall, but Shylo knew he wouldn’t be able to eat until he had done the terrible thing he had to do: inform Nelson that Belle de Paw had the diamond.